Speaking in 2008, Brazilian former FIFA president João Havelange said to Folha de Sao Paulo that the competition, along with the 1966 FIFA World Cup, was fixed so that the host country would win: "In the three matches that the Brazilian national team played in 1966, of the three referees and six linesmen, seven were British and two were Germans.

Brazil went out, Pelé 'exited' through injury [following some rough defensive play], and England and Germany entered into the final, just as the Englishman Sir Stanley Rous, who was the President of FIFA at the time, had wanted.

Some of football's most successful nations did not qualify, including 1966 champions England, France, hosts and quarter-finalists of the 1970 tournament Mexico, Spain, 1966 third-place finishers Portugal, 1970 quarter-finalists Peru, Belgium, 1962 runners-up Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Hungary, and Romania.

The USSR was also disqualified after refusing to travel for the second leg of their playoff against Chile as a result of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.

For the 1974 World Cup, FIFA introduced the penalty shoot-out as a means of determining the winner in knockout stages should the match end on a draw after 120 minutes.

Only five western European nations had qualified, of which only the Netherlands, West Germany and Sweden made it past the group stage.

Fans from the Eastern Communist neighbour states East Germany, Bulgaria and Poland were hindered by political circumstances.

The Dutch marked their first World Cup finals since 1938 by topping their first-round group, with wins over Uruguay and Bulgaria and a draw with Sweden.

With Brazil, Yugoslavia and Scotland drawing all their games against each other, it was decided by the number of goals these three teams scored when defeating Zaire.

Yugoslavia hammered the African nation 9–0, equalling a finals record for the largest margin of victory.

They were the only team that did not lose a game in the tournament and the first ever country to be eliminated from a World Cup Finals without having lost a match.

In one of the most politically charged matches of all time, the East won, thanks to a late Jürgen Sparwasser goal.

In Group A, two goals from the inspirational Johan Cruyff helped the Dutch side thrash Argentina 4–0.

The Dutch triumphed over East Germany 2–0 while in the "Battle of the South Americans", Brazil managed to defeat Argentina 2–1 in a scrappy match.

The crucial game between the Germans and the Poles was goalless until the 76th minute, when Gerd Muller scored to send the hosts through 1–0.

West Germany was led by Franz Beckenbauer, while the Dutch had their star Johan Cruyff, and their Total Football system which had dazzled the competition.

West Germany now pushed, and in the 43rd minute, in his typical style, Gerd Müller scored what turned out to be the winning goal, and the last of his career as he retired from the national team.

The second half saw chances for both sides, with Müller putting the ball in the net for a goal that was disallowed as offside.

France have also held both trophies, albeit in a different order, at the same time by winning the 1998 World Cup followed by Euro 2000.

Joao Havelange (former FIFA President from 1974 to 1998) claimed that the 1966 and 1974 World Cups were fixed so that England and Germany would win respectively.

The final draw took place at 21:30 local time on 5 January 1974 in HR Sendesaal in Frankfurt,[9] and was televised on Eurovision.

80 commentators were gathered at the Eurovision headquarters, and TV stations from 32 countries had requested pictures of the ceremony at the time.

[11][10] The "innocent hand" who made the draws was an 11-year-old boy, Detlef Lange, a member of the Schöneberger Sängerknaben, a children's choir.

When FIFA President Sir Stanley Rous had announced the lot, the room was quiet for a few moments, followed by long-lasting applause.

At all previous World Cup tournaments, the drawing of lots had been foreseen in this situation to split the teams, but it was never used.